Chapter Text
“Last day of camp.”
Virgil sat at the empty creek bed with Janus, Patton, Roman, Remus, and Logan. The other campers were gathered nearby, all in their own groups. Unus, Annus, and Amy all stood at the creek bed, tossing rocks into it like they were skipping them on the surface of the nonexistent water.
“The days have gone by quick,” Unus said.
Annus whipped a rock into the dry creek bed. “Since it’s the last day of Camp Unus Annus, we figured we’d spend it skipping some rocks down by the raging river here.”
Logan sighed. “You would probably be having more fun if there was water here.”
Annus shrugged. “Well, when we were told about these campgrounds, we were told about a lovely flowing river. Turns out, things aren’t what you always expect them to be.”
“Exactly,” Unus agreed. “But as campers, we make do. And we do the best that we can with what we’re given.”
Annus picked up another rock. “Campers, you know this is the only year that Camp Unus Annus is going to exist, right? That was in the camp brochure and on the forms.”
“We know,” Virgil said.
“Thank God,” Roman muttered. Patton nudged him with his elbow.
“Why would you make a camp only for a few days of one summer?” another camper asked.
“Because it’s temporary, so it doesn’t matter what we do as long as we do something,” Annus said. “This camp is only going to exist in our memories from this point on. It has value because it ends.”
“Some people have asked us if we’re going to extend the time of Unus Annus because of the way the year has played out,” Unus said. “There are a lot of things Mark and I wanted to do that we won’t get to do in the lifespan of Unus Annus. But extending the time completely defeats the purpose of Unus Annus. We have to play with the hands we were dealt.”
“Unus Annus is really centred around death,” Annus explained as he skipped a rock on the dry ground. “Some people get that, but some people don’t. It’s not about celebrating death, it’s about understanding that death is universal. It’s the constant ending point of life. And it’s what helps give life meaning. To me, anyway.”
Unus looked down at his hands. “I need more rocks.”
Virgil sighed. “I hate that camp is only for a week. If it was any other year, it would been longer.”
“You want to stay here longer?” Roman asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, it hasn’t been the worst experience,” Janus admitted.
“Honestly,” Remus said, “I think it’s kind of fitting that this camp happened in 2020. The whole thing about it is that it has value because it ends. It’s just ending quicker than it otherwise would have. Maybe it would have been better in another year, but it’s doing what it can with what it’s got.”
Logan blinked. “That was... surprisingly profound for you, Remus.”
Remus shrugged. “Yeah, I snorted a packet of cheese powder earlier. I think it’s finally starting to hit me.”
Logan sighed. “And the profound moment is gone.”
“In a way, I’m kind of looking forward to when we go home,” Patton said. “The ending of it is special if the journey was special. If we weren’t emotionally invested in any of this, going home wouldn’t mean anything.” He smiled and nudged Roman. “I think you’re actually going to miss us.”
Roman scoffed. “No, I won’t. I... I wasn’t invested in this at all.”
“Princey,” Virgil said, “if you didn’t care at all, you wouldn’t have tried so hard to win that tug of war with me, or any of the other competitions. You climbed a tree like a damn squirrel just so we could do a dumb activity you pretended not to care about.” He smirked. “I think you are going to miss us.”
Remus grinned. “Aww, he’s blushing. Roman, are you gonna miss your fwiends?”
Roman pushed Remus. Remus tumbled into the empty creek bed, cackling like a maniac.
Logan rolled his eyes and stood. “I’ll go make sure he didn’t break anything.”
Logan slid into the creek bed. Virgil watched him go. Virgil had thought he was going to hate being here, but between Janus teaching him how to make bracelets, competing against Roman, teaming up with Patton, befriending Logan, and witnessing Remus’s antics, he actually had a good time at summer camp. Strange.
“I’m actually going to miss you guys,” Virgil said.
Logan hauled himself out of the creek bed, Remus at his side. “Believe it or not,” Logan said, “I’m going to miss this, too. It’s been a fun few days.” He sat next to Patton. “You know, I wasn’t going to come to camp at all at first. I could have gone my whole life never coming here and never meeting any of you.”
“That’s sad to think about,” Patton said. “You could have missed the chance to be part of this.”
“I could have.” Logan lied back in the grass. “Did you know that the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy are going to collide in four billion years? When they merge, the solar system as we know it is going to be pulled apart and replaced by something new. The Andromeda Galaxy contains so many stars. Imagine what our sky will look like then.”
Remus looked up at the sky as if imagining all the bright stars in the sky. “It’ll look so cool.”
“But we won’t be around to see it. Life as we know it will be gone. Billions of years of life could be destroyed by then. Stars that have guided travellers for eons will be flung into new orbits. We are nothing to the universe. We are infinitesimal specks in the void of space. We gripe about our mortality, but we should just be grateful that we’re getting to live. The seven billion lives on earth are so small compared to everything else. Out of all the lives we could have been born into, we were born into the ones we have, and we should make the most of our existence before we inevitably die.”
Janus nodded and kicked his legs off the edge of the creek bed. “From dust we came.”
“To dust we will return,” Patton muttered. He sighed. “If I really want to make the most out of the time I have, I want to spend it doing something I love. But the only thing I really know that I love is helping people.”
“Then do that,” Virgil said.
“I don’t always know how, though. I think... I think if there’s a meaning to life at all, it’s to help make everyone else’s life as meaningful as possible. I want to help other people be happy with their lives. I want to bring more meaning to the lives of others, and that will bring meaning to my life as well.”
“But what if others aren’t happy focusing on the wellbeing of others?” Janus piped up. “Sure, I feel good when I help other people, but I don’t find a big meaningful sense of fulfillment when I do it. I think the meaning of my life is to be as happy as I can doing what I want as long as I’m not hurting others.”
Patton hummed. “Maybe there’s a balance. Maybe we’re all meant to enjoy our lives as much as possible while helping others enjoy theirs. Besides, helping others feel happy doesn’t have to be about doing good deeds. It can just be about being in someone’s life.” He grinned and nudged Janus with his elbow. “You’re helping me be happy with life just by being my friend.”
Janus smiled. “Well... then I suppose there’s a bit of merit in helping others be happy if that’s all it takes.”
They were all silent for a moment as the counselors continued tossing rocks into the creek bed. Virgil’s thoughts wandered through his head, considering everything the others had just said. He’d thought about death a lot before, but it was strange to think that he and everyone else here were just small specks in the void of the universe. There was no set meaning to life. They were meant to make their own meaning.
“I could have died before I got here.”
They all turned to look at Remus. He had lied down on his stomach in the grass and was picking at the blades.
“What are you talking about?” Roman asked.
Remus ran a hand through his hair and tilted his head so the others could clearly see a shiny green stud in his earlobe. “Remember when Mom took me to get my ear pierced a few days ago?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I could have died then.” Remus kicked his legs in the air and went back to picking at the grass. “We were driving to the piercing studio. Mom’s not a great driver, so she tried to cut across the street to park in front of the shop. We almost got T-boned. We parked and Mom said ‘we could’ve died’. I said I didn’t think we would have. Mom said ‘you could’ve. It would have hit your side.’ She didn’t sound bothered about it and I didn’t feel bothered about it. I got my ear pierced and we went home.” He furrowed his brow. “But now I’m thinking about what would have happened if we had gotten hit. I could have died and missed out on camp. Roman, you probably wouldn’t have come here, either.”
Roman nodded slowly. “Yeah, I would have stayed home. I wouldn’t want to come here if you died.”
“It wasn’t really a close call,” Remus continued. “The other driver was already swerving to avoid us and Mom was booking it across the intersection and the cars weren’t super close. But if Mom had just been a bit slower and the other driver had been a bit faster, I probably wouldn’t be here. It really puts things into perspective. Death is around the corner for all of us and it could take us at any time.” He reached up and touched his ear. “I’m glad I got this done. If I only have a limited amount of time left, I want to try as many things as I can at least once before my time comes. I’m terrified of needles, but I did this anyway. I’m probably going to get a tattoo when I’m older, too. Just to say I did.”
“We don’t have all the time in the world,” Janus mused. “Even a year feels like a lot, but that time is over before you know it.”
Roman fiddled with the edge of his shirt. “I don’t have all the time I need to create everything I want. When I was younger, I separated my entire life into sections. I planned to write a certain book series when I was twenty, I would write the sequel series when I was thirty, I would write something new at forty, write some spinoffs at fifty and sixty, retire when I was seventy and live off the money I made for the rest of it. I thought that would be my life and I was prepared to live it. But I’ve changed so many things. I don’t want to write the same things I used to. I don’t know if I have enough time to write everything that I want now.”
“Write as much as you can,” Patton said. “Create everything you can.”
“But what if I don’t leave a mark on the world when I’m gone? What if after everything I’ve done, no one remembers me?”
“Some will,” Janus said. “I will, at least. So will the rest of us. Just by existing, you touch other people’s lives and that will stay with the rest of us until we die. Even if you don’t get famous, you’ll still have people who know you and will remember you when you’re gone.”
Roman seemed to consider that for a second. “Huh. I guess so.”
Virgil watched Unus chuck a rock into the empty stream bed. “I think I have the same problem,” Virgil admitted. “Roman, I don’t feel like I can do everything I want to do, but it’s not just because I don’t have the time. It’s because I’m not willing to do what I want to do.”
Logan raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
Virgil sighed. “I’ve always been a super anxious kid. I can’t make myself do everything that everyone else can do all the time. I get anxious over everything. That’s been holding me back. I want to do so much with my life, but I can’t even make myself talk to kids in my grade that I’ve known for years.”
Logan pushed his glasses up his nose. “Well... you talked to me. On the bus. I was the first person you talked to.”
Logan was right. Virgil had spoken to Logan on the bus. Not only that, but after Virgil was assigned Janus as a buddy, they launched into a conversation almost immediately.
“I guess,” Virgil muttered as that sank in. “I don’t know how much I’ll be able to accomplish with my anxiety pulling me back, but I’ll work on it. I don’t want it to keep me from doing fun things like going to camp. If I listened to my anxiety and insisted that I not go, I never would have met any of you. Maybe I can get better at that.”
Roman slung an arm around Virgil’s shoulders. “Don’t fret, My Chemically Imbalanced Romance. We’ll all help you.”
Annus threw his last rock into the empty streambed. “Well, I guess we should get doing our last activity before the camp bus gets here,” he called.
“Yeah,” Unus sighed. “Okay campers, let’s all stand in a circle. Go back to where the tents used to be.”
All the campers pushed themselves to their feet and shuffled along back to the clearing. Remus hauled Janus upright. Logan nearly slipped into the creek bed, but Patton caught his hand. Roman kept his arm around Virgil’s shoulders as their group walked back to where their tents had been set up before they dismantled them.
The campers all gathered in a circle. Unus, Annus, and Amy joined the circle, each one in different spots. Amy brought out a ball of yarn from seemingly nowhere.
She took a deep breath. “This last activity is something we decided to do last minute. Only the person holding the yarn can talk at a time. Once someone tosses the ball to you, wrap the end of the string around your hand, say your favourite memory during camp, and then throw the ball to someone else in the circle.” She unraveled part of the ball and wrapped the end of the string around her hand. “Mark, you can start.”
She threw the ball of yarn. Annus lunged forward to catch it. He fumbled with it, but he managed not to drop it.
“My favourite moment,” he said. “I think... the campers won’t get this, but I was editing a video, and I put it up on the Unus Annus channel, and I remember seeing it click for people. I saw all the work that I put into that, the work that we put into that, and suddenly people got it. Amy was there, actually. I was looking at the response to it and it made me happy.” He glanced around the circle. “Let’s go with a camper. Uh... sweater vest kid. Emile.”
Annus tossed the ball, yarn trailing behind it, connected to his hand. The kid he’d thrown it to fumbled with the yarn.
The yarn was passed around the circle, each camper smiling as they recounted their favourite moments, or wiping away tears they were too afraid to shed. Each one held a part of the yarn, slowly forming a web of yarn in the middle of the circle. Then someone passed it to Patton.
He yelped as he nearly dropped it. He twirled the string in his fingers as he thought. “Oh goodness, there’s so much to choose from. I think... I think my favourite part of camp was during that first night. That night was weird, I admit, but it was interesting. And after we all went back to our tents, I was actually a little scared about whether or not there really was a bear outside. Roman helped calm me down. He told me stories and ranted about books he read until I fell asleep again.” He sniffled. “I appreciated that a lot. There aren’t a lot of people in my life who would stay up at night and do something like that for me.” He gave a sad smile to Roman. “Thank you.” He wiped at his eyes with his free hand. “Ugh. Anyway... Let’s go with Logan.”
He threw the ball of yarn. It hit the ground and rolled under the web of string connecting the circle. Everyone raised their arms to lift the web and let Logan scurry under it to grab the ball.
He went back to his place in the circle, wrapping the end of the yarn around his fingers. “It’s hard to figure out just one favourite moment. There were many. But I think my biggest favourite moment was just last night when Remus asked me to tell him about space. It was a small thing, but in all honesty, it meant so much to me. I haven’t ever met another kid who was curious about the things I’m interested in.” He cleared his throat. “Also, Remus, I’m sorry I almost broke your spine by pulling you out of the tree on the second day.” He threw the yarn to Remus.
Remus jumped up and caught it. “Hoo, boy. Favourite moment.” He wrapped a fair amount of yarn around his hand. “Let’s see... Well, my team absolutely destroyed Roman in that tug of war. That was fun.”
Roman stuck out his tongue from across the circle. Remus snickered and turned the ball of yarn in his hands. “Okay, I’ll be serious. But my favourite moment was actually the team building activities.” His smile faded. “I don’t have a lot of friends other than Roman. But I got to be in a group with people and work together and have fun, and that’s not something I get to do often. I’m really glad that happened. I’m glad I got Logan for a buddy, even though he might have gotten a little sick of my shit after a while. He knows a lot about things, and I like learning about things, so it’s a win-win. And being around Janus and Virgil and Patton has expanded my group of friends already.” He took a shaky breath. “I’m really glad I came here.” He smirked. “Roman.”
He chucked the ball hard. Roman ducked so it wouldn’t hit him in the head. He glared at Remus, but he was grinning. He grabbed the yarn and twisted some of it around his hand.
“I might have to agree with Remus,” Roman admitted. “The team building was fun. Patton has been amazing to be in a tent with, Logan and Janus don’t hesitate to call me out on my bullshit, and Virgil has been an absolute delight,” he said, shooting a grin in Virgil’s direction. “I don’t have a lot of friends either, so I’m happy I got to meet more people. I know I pretend not to care a lot of the time, but I do care. A lot. Losing to Virgil at tug of war was fun. Hell, it was even fun when he tripped me a dozen times during the sack race. No matter what we were all doing, I enjoyed it.” He smiled at Virgil. “Virge.”
He tossed the yarn. Virgil’s heart skipped a beat and he ducked automatically. The ball rolled and he hurried after it. He wracked his brain for something to say as he rushed back to his spot. What could he say?
Then he thought of something while he was wrapping some string around his fingers. “My favourite moments were in between activities, when Janus was teaching me how to make bracelets. I’m still not great at it, but at least I tried. I was already nervous about being here, but Janus made the effort to spend time with me and show me something he enjoyed. It meant a lot, even though it probably wasn’t a big deal to him.” Virgil’s face heated up from embarrassment. Janus would probably think he was weird for talking about that. He shoved his embarrassment aside and tossed the ball. “Janus.”
Janus caught it easily. “I have to admit, that was probably my favourite part of camp, too. I don’t get to share things I enjoy with other people. The fact that Virgil was willing to listen and participate...” A smile spread across his face. “It was refreshing, to say the least. I appreciate that Virgil was willing to let me talk.” He glanced around the circle. “Well, I suppose Unus is the last one.”
Unus caught the ball. “Favourite moment,” he muttered, wrapping the string around his hand. “God, that’s a tough one to think about. I think my favourite moment, even though it wasn’t technically a part of the lifespan of Unus Annus, was that walk.” He made eye contact with Annus when he said that. “The walk that we went on before this all began. It was just the shared passion and shared excitement for something. We were so on the same page and we were just so amped about starting this. We were so excited to start. It was a big endeavour to take on, but we did it. And we did it. We fuckin’ did it.” He smiled. “And back to Amy.”
He tossed the ball of yarn across the circle. Amy leaned forward to catch it. “My favourite moment,” she said, “was when the three of us and Evan were hanging out just last night, sitting on the porch of the cabin and looking at the stars, after we finished filming some videos. It was a nice moment. And I’m the last one.”
She tore the string off the ball of yarn. “When you all came here, almost none of you knew each other. Now we’re all here, connected by the memories we’ve made. And even once those connections are torn when we all go our separate ways, we’ll still have our own little pieces of the time we spent and the potential to remake those connections. Everybody step back and pull on your piece of yarn until it snaps.”
Everyone in the circle took a step back. The yarn around Virgil’s hand dug into his skin. He grimaced, but he pulled.
The string connecting him to Janus snapped. Virgil saw Roman’s string between him and Remus snap, which left just the piece connecting the two of them. Roman grinned, and Virgil couldn’t help but mirror it as they played a short game of tug-of-war with their string. It finally snapped. They both stumbled backwards, their own pieces of yarn in their hands.
The sound of a bus horn honking met Virgil’s ears, and the counselors looked up. “Bus is here,” Annus called, twisting his piece of yarn around his wrist. “Everyone get your stuff and we’ll get going.”
The campers fell back into their friend groups as they all started for the pile of luggage near the road. Janus stuck close to Virgil as they walked. Virgil and Logan sat together on the bus. Roman and Remus sat behind them while Patton and Janus sat in front.
The counselors passed a jar of pickles around the bus during the drive home. They put that vocal warmup CD back on and loudly sang along, which was too loud for everyone else to ignore, so many of the campers ended up singing, too. None of them really knew the words, since it was a vocal warmup and not an actual song that anyone would willingly listen to, but everyone sang anyway. Even Virgil and Janus, although neither of them could hear each other over Roman belting out the words like it was a Broadway performance.
Someone passed Virgil the jar of pickles. He took one and offered the jar to Logan. He shook his head with a disgusted scrunch of his nose.
Virgil passed the jar along and munched on the pickle. He usually hated the loudness of dozens of other kids yelling at once, but surprisingly, he didn’t mind right now.
He peered at the seat behind him. Patton was singing just about as loud as Roman and Remus, but Janus was simply humming along, legs crossed as he sat back in his seat. He glanced up when he saw Virgil.
Virgil held out his right hand, palm out. “Hey, can I have your hand for a sec?”
Janus furrowed his brow, but he laced his fingers with Virgil’s. Virgil rolled up his sleeve, revealing a colourful bracelet on bright yellow string. Most of the beads were black and white, but a few yellow beads in the middle of the others spelled out “MCRMY”. He rolled it down his arm and onto Janus’s, where it settled among the dozen other kandi bracelets Janus kept on his left arm. It was a bit loose. Virgil hadn’t been able to figure out how to make the bracelet the exact size he wanted.
Janus stared at the bracelet like it was made of solid gold. “Virgil,” he whispered. “You made me a bracelet?”
“Yeah. It took a while because I’m not great at it, but I tried. Do you like it?”
Janus smiled, and for once it wasn’t a crooked smirk or a devious grin. It was a genuine smile. “I love it.” He let go of Virgil’s hand and held up his other one. “Gimme your other hand.”
Virgil held out his left arm. Janus interlocked their fingers and searched through the bracelets on his right arm. He found one covered in purple beads and rolled it onto Virgil’s arm.
Virgil looked down at the bracelet. The string was black, the beads alternating purple and white. Black beads spelled out “KILLJOY” in the middle of the others. It fit a little loose on his wrist, big enough that it would fit perfectly when he grew.
Virgil couldn’t help the smile that grew across his face. “We both made MCR bracelets.”
Janus gave Virgil’s hand a squeeze. “Well, I knew you liked My Chemical Romance. Figured I’d make something you would like.”
“I love it, Jan. Thank you.”
The music over the intercom cut off. The campers stopped singing and looked to the front of the bus, where Annus stood with his megaphone.
“We’re just about at the drop off point,” he sighed through the megaphone. “I just want everyone to know that this has been an amazing journey and I’m so grateful I got to do this with all of you. I know I should say something profound here, but I don’t have any pretty words left. All that’s left is the feeling. I’m never at a loss for words, but right now, I’ve said everything. There’s nothing left to say.”
“Time will never stop,” Unus’s voice said over the intercom. “There is only going forward, never backward. We all have a limited amount of time left. Unus Annus means ‘one year’ in Latin. You can rewrite the entire history of your life in one year. Don’t let that time go to waste.”
The bus slowed to a stop and parked. A rush of sadness washed over Virgil when he realized it was time to go. He wasn’t ready. The drive to camp had felt so long. Why did the drive back home have to feel so short?
He slid out of his seat and grabbed his backpack. Everyone else followed suit.
Once outside the bus, campers began to say their goodbyes. Many of them cried, and it took Virgil a moment to realize that there were tears in his eyes, too. He also realized that he was still holding Janus’s hand, but he didn’t let go.
Patton sniffled. “I’m gonna miss you guys,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.
Remus nodded. “Me too.”
Logan cleared his throat. “I will admit, I may miss the company of the five of you. It was refreshing to be in the presence of people who actually seem to care about what I have to say.” He scanned the parking lot. “I... I actually don’t even think my parents are here. Did they not get the memo that they’re supposed to pick me up?”
A car honked. Roman and Remus both looked up. “Mom’s here,” Roman sighed. “Here’s hoping we don’t crash on the way home.”
“Wait!” Patton grabbed Roman’s arm and brought out a marker. He scribbled a string of numbers on the back of Roman’s hand. “This is my home phone number. Call sometime. Maybe our parents can set up a playdate. This goes for you too, Remus.”
Remus blinked as Patton moved from Roman to Remus with his marker to write his phone number on Remus’s hand. “Thanks.”
Patton smiled, eyes watery with tears. “I’m going to miss you guys.”
Roman’s shoulders slumped. “Aww, don’t cry, Pat. You’ll make me cry.”
He wrapped Patton in a hug, and Patton started bawling. He tugged Remus into the hug. Remus stared into space, face flushed with embarrassment. He must not have been used to affection.
Janus plucked the marker from Patton’s hand and scrawled his own number on Roman’s arm. “Call me sometime. Perhaps we can all hang out together.”
He passed the marker to Logan, who wrote his number on Remus’s arm. “I look forward to hearing from you both,” Logan stated, his voice as flat as ever, but Virgil caught him wiping away a tear under his glasses.
Virgil took the marker next and wrote his number on Roman’s arm. As an afterthought, he took Janus’s hand again and wrote it on the back of Janus’s hand. “Call sometime.”
Janus blinked at the numbers on his hand. “I will.” Tears welled up in his eyes and he wiped them away. “I... thank you, Virgil. I’m glad you were my camp buddy.”
Virgil tried to say something back, but all that came out of his mouth was a sob. He sniffled. He didn’t want to go.
Janus pulled him into a hug. Virgil peeked over Janus’s shoulder to see Logan standing awkwardly nearby, shuffling his feet on the ground. Virgil reached out and grabbed Logan’s arm to pull him into the hug. Logan yelped in surprise, but he hugged Virgil and Janus back.
Patton glanced over at them and let out a sob. He dragged Roman and Remus over to the other three so they were all stuck in one giant group hug, Virgil and Janus in the middle of it. Virgil squeezed Janus tight. He didn’t want to go yet.
A car honked. “Yeah, we’re coming, Mom!” Remus shouted. He and Roman gently untangled themselves from the embrace. “We have to go. We’ll see you guys sometime, okay?”
Patton blubbered out a goodbye. Logan, Janus, and Virgil waved. The twins kept glancing back, even as they climbed into their mom’s car. As they drove away, they rolled down the window and shouted their goodbyes.
“Kiddo, it’s time to go!” a man’s voice yelled.
Patton sniffled. “That’s my dad,” he muttered. He gave the other three a squeeze, and the breath left Virgil’s lungs in a sharp burst. Goodness, Patton was strong.
Patton let them go and hefted his backpack. He ran off towards a car, waving at the others. He was still crying as he climbed into his dad’s vehicle and drove away.
Janus glanced around the parking lot. “Ugh, my parents are here.” He hugged Logan and Virgil. “I’m really glad I met you all. Virgil, I’ll call you.”
Virgil sniffed and nodded, unable to make any words come out. He gave Janus one last hug. Janus gave the two of them a soft smile and walked off. Virgil watched him approach a dull grey car where two adults stood in dull grey business suits. Janus’s bright neon skirt and colourful bracelets stood out. It was hard to believe Janus came from such a boring looking family.
Logan sighed. “My parents still aren’t here,” he muttered. “They’re probably asleep or something.”
Virgil watched Janus’s car leave the lot as another one pulled in. “Mine are. Maybe we can give you a ride.”
Logan pushed his glasses up his nose. “I wouldn’t be opposed to that,” he said with a small smile. “Just don’t make me eat any more pickles during the drive.”
Virgil linked his arm with Logan’s and they started off to Virgil’s car together.
***
Unus sighed. “Mark?”
“Yeah, Ethan?”
“How long do we have left?”
Annus shrugged. “About ninety days, give or take. November 13 will be here before we know it. Then we’ll be gone.”
“We had one year. Do you think we did okay?”
“Only time will tell.”
Amy stepped off the bus, video camera in hand. She watched the emo kid and his junior professor friend walk off through the parking lot.
She smiled. “I think we did great.”